Lawrence school and health officials say they appear to have won this round against chicken pox.

But they expect more cases of the highly contagious disease to develop.

Since Wednesday, school nurses and Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department staff have contacted parents of 48 Hillcrest School children thought to have been exposed to the virus after seven cases were reported earlier this week at the school.

“The good news is that none of the children were excluded from school,” said Charlotte Marthaler, director of policy and planning for the health department.

Parents were able to prove their children already had the chicken pox or received the varicella vaccine. Fifteen children came to the health department to get a free shot, Marthaler said.

According to a new Kansas Department of Health and Environment regulation, the at-risk students could have been kept from school for 21 days after the last case was diagnosed if they didn’t have proof of previously having the virus or had been inoculated.

One case was reported this week at Free State High School, and Marthaler said staff members had also addressed that situation of students at-risk.

Marthaler said the health department does expect more cases to develop, and she said parents of infected students need to notify their schools or day care providers.

“The sooner we find out that a child has a disease, then the more quickly we can identify other children who can be infected,” she said.

Usually a mild virus, chicken pox can be serious for infants and adults. The symptoms include rash, itching, fever and fatigue.